As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An information handling system may include one or more power supply units for providing electrical energy to components of the information handling system. Typically, a power supply unit is configured to operate from an input alternating current (AC) source and convert electrical energy received at the AC input to a (DC) direct current output. Thus, a power supply unit may include a rectifier and/or power factor correction stage configured to receive the input alternating current source and rectify the input alternating waveform to charge a bulk capacitor to a desired voltage. A direct-current-to-direct-current (DC-DC) stage may convert the voltage on the bulk capacitor to a direct-current output voltage provided to components of the information handling system in order to power components of the information handling system.
In traditional approaches, a power supply unit may be capable of, immediately after withdrawal of an alternating current input to the power supply unit, providing electrical energy at its output for a period of time known as a hold-up time or ride-through time. The hold-up period may provide enough energy to an information handling system to complete tasks before power is withdrawn due to the withdrawal of the alternating-current input. For example, in response to loss of an input alternating-current input, a write-back cache may flush data to a non-volatile memory, and the hold-up time may provide sufficient time for the write-back cache to use available electrical energy from the power supply unit in order to complete the cache flush before the power supply unit ceases generating an output voltage as a result of the withdrawal of the input alternating-current waveform.